We drove to the spring again, accompanied by Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. She was giggly. She’d been so all morning. She’d also brought one of her shopping bags with her. I didn’t ask. I’m sure I’d find out later.
“Stay here for… Oh, I don’t know. A while.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because I asked you to.”
So I did. Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes going by. And then I picked up my easel and my paint box and joined her at the spring.
“Don’t laugh,” she told me shyly, as if I would. She was sitting on the swing, slowly swaying forwards and back, dressed in pink and white lace. Stocking and a garter. Panties and a corsette? Corselette? Whatever you called them. It was laced up the front and it had the effect of making her tits look bigger. She had always tied pink ribbons in her hair and was wearing a lace collar.
“You look divine.”
“Yeah? Not ridiculous?”
“Not at all.”
“Thank you.”
That was it. I set up up and lost myself in my work, smiling occasionally at her when she’d lift her head and meet my eyes. Mostly, though, she wrote and neither of us said a word until it was time for lunch, and even then, we were mostly quiet.
“Still the story of the girl in the treehouse?”
“Yeah. Almost done, though.”
“Does it have a happy ending?
“I think so.”
After lunch, neither of us felt like resuming our work.
“Take some pictures of me. Dressed like this,” she told me with a blushing giggle. “I’ve never worn anything like this before.” With someone else, I might have thought there was a bit of narcissism in the request, but with Summer it didn’t even enter my mind.
I was more than happy to. I had her sit on the swing for a few, then alongside it, one knee on the wooden seat. Some more next to the tree. Some by the spring, standing at first, then sitting, then lying on the soft grass the surrounded it. Afterwards, she took off the corset and I took some of her bare-breasted. Next went the stockings and garter. And finally, her panties, leaving her with just pink ribbons in her hair. They matched her nipples. the sun playing off the auburn highlights in her hair.
She ended up in the spring, giggling as she stood in the cool water and then laying in it as if bathing while smiling brilliantly.
“Join me,” she teased.
I laughed and took my shoes off and rolled up my pants to my knees before sitting down on the bank, feet into the water. It was cold, but not uncomfortably so. I kept my camera on me, but didn’t take any pictures.
“I might not ever go home.”
“I thought the same thing the first time I came out here.”
“Any regrets? Ever?”
“No. None.”
Eventually, she got cold. I took a couple more shots of her standing on the bank, water clinging to her as she untied the ribbons in her hair, freeing it. After that we packed up, her completely naked, and got back into my truck.
“We eating out tonight?” I asked.
“You feel like cooking?”
“I might.”
“Then no.”
Just like that, it was settled. I cooked some steaks and sautéed some carrots and she put together a salad. We took it out onto the back porch and ate. She’d changed into one of my shirts, not bothering to button it, and shorts. Afterwards, I grabbed a couple of beers, one for me, one for her, and put on a CD of classical guitar music and we talked about whatever came to mind. Art. Travelling. Music. Movies. I mentioned that there was an arthouse in town that played silent movies on Wednesday nights.
“They have an organist who plays along. We should go.”
“Sounds fun.”
That settled, we lapsed into silence for a short while and then she got up and headed off to bed. I found myself a little disappointed, if not all that surprised, that it was her own bed and not mine that she’d chosen. That said, I got to listen to her make herself come through our shared wall before drifting off to sleep. All in all, a perfect day…
There were two films. A comedy and sort of horror movie that was, quite honestly, almost as funny as the comedy. Summer giggled through both of them. Afterwards we had drinks, polishing off half a bottle of wine.
“Take me to the maze garden again, Noel. Please?”
“It’s a bit of a walk from here. Do you want to drive?” I only asked because she’d chosen to wear heels to the film. Those and pleated loose mustard-colored skirt and red sweater, one I’d had to help her with since it buttoned up the back, so I knew there wasn’t a bra underneath.
“It’s a nice night. Let’s walk.”
It was a nice night and it really was a bit of a walk, probably close to an hour. I didn’t mind, though, seeing as we held hands the entire time making me feel like I was twenty again. By the time we got there, the sun was starting to sink, turning the blue sky into marvelous shades of oranges, reds, and purples. By the time we go to the park, though, I think Summer was done with walking in heels. First thing she did was pull them off and let out a happy sounding sigh when her feet hit the grass.
“The pitfalls of being a woman,” I joked.
“One of them, yeah,” giving me a quick smile. A moment later she was running across the lawn towards the maze. “Free at last!”
Shaking my head I followed her, my pace quick, but not quick enough to keep up, watching her, enjoying the sight of her ass up until the moment she disappeared into the maze. I wondered if she meant for me to find her. If not, she was going to be disappointed. There was only one way in, or out. More than likely she’d already lost her way.
“Ready or not, here I come,” I said under my breath, following her into the hedge maze. Like the last time we’d been here, there was enough light to see well enough that you didn’t run into anything. That said, the last light of the day was fading fast, and soon only the stars and nearby streetlights would be casting their light, turning the hedges into shadowy walls and anyone within into a grey ghost.
As I’d said, I knew the trick. I wondered if she’d remember how to navigate. I doubted it. She been here once, hadn’t really been paying attention, and was probably a little tipsy. I paused, listening. I heard a giggle. Hers, though not nearby. It really didn’t help me, so I decided to head for the center and see what happened.
About halfway there I found a little surprise hanging about chin height on one of the squared-off shrubs. Panties. I didn’t even have to look to know they were hers. Cute. Well, that left her with her skirt and sweater.
Or not. Her skirt was hanging nearby. I thought of the story of Hansel and Gretel, the pair leaving a trail of bread crumbs to find their way home only Summer was leaving one for me to follow instead. I figured that next, I’d find her sweater.
I was wrong, though. She still had it on when I found her, looking a little lost trying to decide left or right.
“There you are.”
“Yeah,” she said, sounding a little disappointed. “I wanted to find my own way and beat you there.”
“Left,” I told her.
“Left?”
“Left and then two rights. And I never saw you. You’ve got two minutes starting… now.”
Laughing softly she took the left turn and disappeared from sight, leaving me still holding her skirt and panties as I counted slowly to one hundred and twenty.
When I reached the middle, she was there waiting, sitting on the grass, her legs crossed in a yoga pose and still wearing her top.
“Couldn’t get it off. Buttons up the back, remember?”
“I remember.”
“You’ll do it for me?”
I paused, looking her over. There was just enough light to see her nipples making lovely dents in against the knit of her sweater.
“You look really nice with it on.”
“Yeah? Maybe I’ll keep it on, then.”
I sat down across from her, unable to cross my legs like her. I’d never been particularly flexible. Instead, I removed my socks and shoes and stretched my legs out straight, my toes just touching her right calf.
“Now what?” I asked.
She shrugged, a mischievous smile forming. “Just sitting here in the dark and looking up at the stars sounds nice.”
“It does,” I agreed.
So, that’s what we did, although she decided it would be more comfortable if I spread my legs so that she could sit between them and lean back, the back of her head upon my shoulder, my arms around her waist.
“I used to try to find all the constellations as a kid when we’d take trips. Couldn’t do it at home. Too many lights. They all have stories, you know. Myths and legends.”
“Do you have a favorite?”
“Cygnus. Cygnus loved to race. One day he challenged his best friend Phaeton to a race around the sun, only they ran too close and their chariots caught on fire and they both fell to earth where Phaeton was trapped by the roots of a tree at the bottom of a river. Unable to save him, Cygnus prayed to Zeus. Zeus answered his prayers, telling him that the only way to retrieve his friend was to dive deep down into the water and free him. To do that, he would have to turn him into a swan and he would be forever trapped in that shape and no longer immortal. And so Cygnus became a swan so he could give his friend a proper burial, allowing his spirit to travel to the afterlife. In honor of his sacrifice, Zeus placed his image, that of a swan, in the night sky…”
“I’ve never heard that before,” I told her, kissing the top of her head. “It’s a nice story.”
“It is, isn’t it.”
I can’t say I was surprised when I felt her shift against me, hands settling between her thighs. I tightened my arms a little, pulling her a little closer and simply held her while she teased herself, taking her time, seemingly unhurried, probably unaware of her surroundings, perhaps even of me. I felt her spasm against me, heard her breaths come faster and faster, her spread legs pushing out against mine. Her ass lifted, just a little, as she rocked her hips back and forth, gasping for air now, her moans low and passionate until she cried out softly, and came in my arms.
I held her, just like that. For how long, I have no idea. Long enough that I grew uncomfortable.
“Time to go, Summer,” I told her softly.
“Yeah?” she said in a faraway voice. I could just make out a smile on her face.
“Yeah?”
She slept with me for the second time, protesting softly when I went to put her in her own bed. I helped her out of her sweater first, pulling the covers back, letting her get in first. She lay on her side and I lay behind her, an arm around her, both our heads on my pillow as I molded myself against her and kissed the back of her head.
“Good night, Summer,” I said softly.”
“Night, Noel.”
Seconds later she was out like a light.
When I woke up she was still in my arms, although clearly awake. I could tell because she was talking to me.
“I need to go pee.”
“Okay,” I muttered then tried to go back to sleep.
“Let go of me!” she exclaimed, laughing as she squirmed fruitlessly, trying to escape my arm around her.
